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Steelers hiring of Mike Munchak is a significant one for the organization

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The Pittsburgh Steelers hiring of Mike Munchak is no doubt a huge get for the organization. Munchak might not have been a very good head coach but he’s an excellent offensive line coach.

Whether’s Munchak’s here short-term or long-term, a lot of eyes will be on his work with tackles Mike Adams and Marcus Gilbert and whether he can develop them into the long-term answers at both tackle positions. Time could soon be running out on Gilbert who is already entering his fourth season. The Steelers go into off-season workouts with Kelvin Beachum as their starting left tackle. Big off-season coming up for all three tackles.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have named Mike Munchak their new offensive line coach, it was announced today.

Munchak is entering his 33rd season in the NFL as either a player or a coach. He joins the Steelers after spending the previous 32 seasons with the Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers organization, including the last three seasons as the Titans head coach.

“I am excited that Mike will be joining our staff at the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Head Coach Mike Tomlin said. “Mike’s offensive line background speaks for itself, both as a Hall of Fame player for the Houston Oilers and as a very successful coach with the Tennessee Titans. I look forward to having him join our coaching staff as we have already started preparing for the 2014 season.”

Prior to being named Tennessee’s head coach in 2011, Munchak served as the offensive line coach for the Titans since 1997. During that time, four of his offensive linemen earned 10 Pro Bowl invitations. His offensive lines blocked for five different running backs to total and NFL-high 12 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Over that time period, Munchak’s offensive line allowed the second fewest sacks (28.3 per season) in the NFL.

From 1997-2010, the Titans ranked seventh in the league in rushing yards (124.5 yards per game) and totaled seven NFL top 10 finishes in rushing yards (1997, ‘98, 2000, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09). In 2009, Munchak’s line blocked for Chris Johnson, who became the sixth-player in league history to produce a 2,000-yard rushing season. Before becoming the offensive line coach he spent the first three seasons after his playing career as the offensive assistant/quality control coach (1994-96).

Munchak, who was born in Scranton, Pa., and played at Penn State (1979-81), was the first offensive lineman chosen in the 1982 NFL Draft when the Oilers selected him eighth overall. He played guard for the Oilers for 12 years (1982-93) and was selected to nine Pro Bowls while starting 156 games (seventh-most in franchise history) and 10 postseason contests. Munchak earned a spot on the NFL’s “All-Decade” team for the 1980s and his number 63 jersey was retired by the club in 1996. Munchak was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.